This year, we include a forum for: Bitterroot Mountain Climbs, Finley Creek Drainage, and Mission Falls conditions; also the Rainbow Falls area near Plains, MT.
With the cold snap that came through I am wondering if there is any ice left or formed again in Plains, Finley or Mission. One can be hopeful.
Ondi Crino and I went out to Finley on Sunday for a beautiful day of ice climbing. We had the whole canyon to ourselves, as is usual for Missoula ice.... Conditions were great on Weedeater, with sinker ice in the morning and reasonably warm temps by early afternoon. I really should've brought a machete up the climb to help cut down some of the alders that were choking out the route!
I'm Wondering if there is any good ice in yet? Its been pretty warm latley... mission?
Any help would be great! Thanks, Ry
Here's a partial list:
Finley:
graineater (WI3)
weedeater (WI3)
thing in between (WI2+)
mule palace (M7)
The Daggers?
additions?
Mission Falls:
???
Lake Como:
Dynamo Flow (WI4)
???
Bear Creek Crag:
??
Bass Creek:
??
Plains/Thompson Falls:
Rainbow Falls (WI4?)
Blodgett Canyon:
Blodgett Falls (WI3?)
Swan Slabs (WI2-)
Does anyone know about the access issues with the climbs in Plains/Thompson falls? It seems Rainbow maybe tricky to get to unless we have landowner permission. And road side climbs look to be closed for sheep habitat. If anyone has climbed here recently and has an update on access please let me know. Thanks.
Went to Dynamo last weekend and climbed the first two pitches. A lot of snow on the ledges made for interesting top outs. Top of the first pitch is thin (no pro) but second pitch is in great shape. Be aware of avalanche danger with these warm temps, there is 2-3 feet of snow sitting on the third pitch that could slide. Pics on my website. www.infinitymountain.com
Have a good one.
Robin, Jesse, Dan and I went up to Mission falls on sunday. Ice was really wet and sticky, great fun! Warm temps and high winds. The road was a bit troublesome but with good snow tires, and 4 wheel drive it's manageable. We had to chain up Jesse's bald tires on his pathfinder. Beware of avalanches, we witnessed a sizeable slide come down across the canyon above the ice that sits above and left of the falls.
Robin posted photos on his website, infinitymountain.com
happy new year
Went to Blodgett both days over the weekend. Slabs are in great shape. We hiked to Blodgett Falls on Sunday and found the bottom of it to be like a chandelier. Climbable but not protectable for the first vertical section. We opted not to climb.
My friend Tait hiked in to Dynamo and found it to be very thin.
A few new photos on my Blog of this weekend.
Have fun out there.
Robin
Went to Finley today to see if Finley is forming at all... There is ice but very little of it. Graineater and Weedeater have ice on them but not enough to safely protect. We chose to do some dry tooling and wait for more ice to form. I posted photos on my site. Check it out. www.infinitymountain.com
Just wondering if anyone has gotten on any ice in the area? It should be getting cold enough.
Thanks Ryan